“You deployed the superhex practically in our backyard!” Alecto said.
“And tried to frame us for it,” Nero added. “You don’t get off the hook on that just because you did such a clumsy job of it that you had to backtrack and blame Boyd Lexington instead.”
Megaira ignored Nero. Her eyes never left her sister’s face. “We tested the superhex in a human area. We have never harmed another fury.”
Thea couldn’t quite manage to keep silent on that one. “Hello? Are you seriously making that claim in front of me?”
But it seemed Megaira was going to disregard anything that didn’t fit into her narrative. She didn’t so much as glance in Thea’s direction.
“We’re the ones who’ve been attacked,” Megaira said. “We’re the ones who need to worry about defending ourselves.”
“You deployed the superhex in Hemlock Heights to make a point,” said Alecto. “I deployed a hex today to make a point, as well.”
Megaira gestured at her board members on either side of her. “Well, you’ve got our attention. Make your point.”
“You need to stand down,” Alecto said. “You will not use your superhex again. Ever.”
“Or else you’ll use yours?” Megaira leaned forward, her eyes hard. “That would be difficult for you to do, if your colony was hexed into chaos and falling apart, wouldn’t it?”
And so it went on. Alecto and Megaira spent the next twenty minutes posturing and arguing, backed up by their board members, using the sort of language diplomats use when they’re more interested in making the enemy cower than in actually avoiding a war.
Furies. They’re worse than humans. It’s not even just Alecto and Megaira. Look at Nero’s face. Look at Frederick’s. None of them will back down.
They’re really this stupid. They’re really going to start a damn war.
Thea’s thoughts were interrupted by a sharp kick to her chair. Holgersen. He was giving her a hard look that insisted she do… something. What did he want from her?
Thea looked around at the angry faces. How could she stop them?
And then she knew.
What she had in mind might not be exactly what Holgersen was hoping for. And it certainly wasn’t anything a fury would think of. It wasn’t violent, for one thing.
But it would turn the tables quite nicely. On both sisters.
“Pardon the interruption,” Thea called out. “But now would be a hell of a time to get to that question of what I was doing here.”
Alecto and Megaira wore identical expressions of mixed condescension and irritation. Thea smiled pleasantly at both of them. “Megaira, if you check with your Human Relations staff, you’ll find they met with some potential clients today. A couple called the Bowmans. They’re on a flight home right now, with proof that Fury Unlimited has developed a superhex.”
Of course, in reality Thea had no idea where the Bowmans were. She hoped they weren’t still waiting at the bottom of the mountain road, where they’d be easily picked up by the furies. But what she was about to do would call for a certain amount of bluffing, and Thea felt she had to start by giving Megaira something verifiable and specific.
Luckily Holgersen, who hadn’t spoken since they’d been brought before Megaira’s board, was finally ready to do some talking. And he was a quick thinker. “Naturally, we recorded their conversation. You’ll find the transmitter in the inside pocket of my jacket, if you’d like to verify that. We backed it up in real time to multiple secure locations, so I wouldn’t recommend going after them. Not only would it be a waste of your time, it might encourage consequences.”
“What are you threatening, exactly?” Megaira asked. “To go to the police?” She considered Holgersen. “Or, I suppose you are the police, aren’t you? How has going after us helped your career so far?”
“We won’t bother with the police,” said Thea.
“Who then?” Alecto asked, then snorted. “The Concerned Citizens For A Fury-Free County?”
“You’re not thinking big enough,” Thea said. “You’ve got a whole world of potential clients out there. And they’d be mighty scandalized to discover that you’re not only developing weapons of mass destruction, but testing them on unsuspecting humans.” She shrugged and went for a look of vague innocence. “I haven’t worked in this industry very long, but it seems to me that this kind of thing is not going to make you a trusted service provider.”
“So you want to try us in the court of public opinion, is that it?” Megaira asked.
Thea nodded. “My friend the detective here used that exact phrase himself recently, in fact. You depend on public opinion for your survival.” She glared at Alecto. “As do you. And you’ve recently gotten a taste of how a decline in your approval rating can hurt, thanks to your sister.”
Alecto bristled and tossed her head at Megaira. “Our business is doing just fine.”
“Sure,” agreed Thea. “It is now. But I’m prepared to go a lot farther than a picture snapped on some amateur’s phone. And more importantly, I’ve got the power to go a lot farther. I don’t think you’ll be able to blame it on Boyd Lexington this time.”
She paused and smiled in spite of herself. I never thought I’d see the day when I’d be thanking Baird Frost. But here it is. Thanks, Baird.
“You may recall that I was a celebrity once,” Thea said. “D-list, I’ll admit, but associated with an A-list star, and that’ll still open a door or two.”
“Just get to the point, will you?” said Megaira. “You remind me of Uncle Graves, grandstanding for attention.”
Alecto actually snickered at that.
Great. Now I’ve got them acting sisterly again.
Thea nodded at Megaira. “It so happens attention is exactly the point. And my particular ability to get it. Celebrity!TV would give me a reality show in a heartbeat. My Life As A Fury. And when I’m in their living room an hour a week for ten weeks or so, I assure you, people will come around to believing in furies.”
“Well, not everyone,” Holgersen interjected. “Some would still think it was fake. But of course, people who refuse to believe in your existence aren’t your potential customers, are they?”
“And the ones who do believe—the ones who are your potential customers—will not be inclined to come to you, once this scandal breaks,” Thea said. “It will bury you. I will bury you.”
“Unless?” Frederick asked.
Thea smiled at him, delighted to find a weak spot. Megaira and Alecto would probably argue with her for hours, Megaira because she wouldn’t want to let the superhex go, Alecto just to prove that Thea couldn’t order her around. But Frederick was being awfully quick to open negotiations. And if Thea could get the two boards to go along, she might not even need the two sisters.
“Unless you agree to destroy the superhex, all the relevant research and data, and submit to quarterly inspections of your facilities to prove you’re no longer pursuing that line of business.” Thea looked from the members of Fury Unlimited’s board, to the members of Hexing House’s. “And I’m both surprised and disappointed to be saying this, but that applies to both colonies. This only works if we all agree that this is not a road we, as furies, want to go down.”
There. The terms she’d laid out were almost identical to those Alecto herself had asked for in March, the first time they’d come to Fury Unlimited. Surely Alecto would see the wisdom in them now.
Unfortunately, Alecto looked mad enough to cut Thea’s throat wide open, right then and there. For a few seconds, nobody said a word.
Nero, bless his heart, broke the tension—for some of them, anyway—by bursting into laughter.
“I kind of have to hand it to you, Thea,” he said. “It’s kind of an elegant solution. And points for having the balls to try blackmailing people while cuffed to a chair.”
“But she is cuffed to a chair,” Megaira said. “Which makes her threats kind of meaningless, doesn’t it? Easy enough to kill her.”
“Like hell i
t is,” said Nero. “Try to keep up, Maggie. We’ve just established that you can’t afford to piss us off right now, remember?”
“I can’t say I’d be all that pissed off,” Alecto muttered.
“She’s my prisoner,” Megaira said. “Caught trespassing illegally in my building. I’ll do what I like with her.”
Alecto sighed, crossed her arms, and said with resigned irritation, “No, you won’t. She’s a member of my colony, and you will let her go.” She glanced at Holgersen and added, “And him too, I suppose, while we’re at it. This is fury business. He shouldn’t even be here. And I don’t need the headache of starting some kind of incident with law enforcement.”
“Your headaches are not my concern,” Megaira snapped. “I am the head of this colony.”
Alecto and Megaira continued to argue—making use of several variations on such sibling favorites as you are not the boss of me and I know you are but what am I—until the board members lost patience, just as Thea had hoped they would.
Frederick called Philip back into the room. “Please find someplace else for our guests to wait. Including Thea and Detective Holgersen. You can remove their restraints.”
“I beg your pardon?” Megaira asked.
At the same time, Alecto asked, “Wait for what?”
Frederick chose to answer Alecto. “For our board to confer in private. We’d like to discuss Thea’s… proposal.”
“There is nothing to discuss—” Megaira began.
“Excuse me,” Frederick interrupted. “But I believe there is. And I think it’s in your best interests if we do it without the members of Hexing House present.”
“Fine.” Alecto stood. “But we’re adding one more item to our terms.”
“Oh?” Frederick asked.
“We will agree to destroy our own hex, submit to inspections, and cease all threats against you from either hexes or washed-up celebrities—on two conditions.” Alecto squared her shoulders and looked at Frederick, not Megaira. “First, you will of course do the same. And second, you will remove Megaira from office and punish her for her crimes, according to whatever system of justice your colony has, but in a way we agree is satisfactory.”
Beside her, Thea could have sworn she heard Holgersen whisper, “Damn straight.”
Megaira was still shrieking threats and insults at her sister when Philip led the contingent from Hexing House out of the room.
He brought them down the hall—it was deserted now, and Thea wondered how the rest of Fury Unlimited was faring in the aftermath of Alecto’s hex—to another, smaller conference room. As soon as he left, Alecto rounded on Thea.
“How DARE you—”
But Thea’s neck hurt, her head still ached, and as far as she was concerned, Alecto could stuff it. “How dare YOU!” she interrupted. She turned to Langdon and Nero. “And I’m sure the two of you had your hands in this, too. Developing a superhex of your own is a betrayal of Hexing House and the trust of—”
“Well, it’s not exactly a superhex,” Nero interrupted.
“I don’t care what it is!”
Langdon looked around, including at the ceiling, as if looking for security cameras (there were none that Thea could see). Then he stepped closer to Thea and whispered in her ear. “It’s not even a hex, exactly. More like a drug. We weren’t even sure it would work. It’s highly unstable and frankly, I wouldn’t assume we’d get the same results twice.”
Thea stared at him.
This whole thing was a bluff?
She didn’t say the words out loud. She didn’t even want to mouth them, inside the Fury Unlimited building.
Finally she shook her head. “The details don’t matter. I can’t believe you thought attacking other furies, or coming here to start a damn arms race, was a good strategy.”
“I can’t believe you thought going rogue on your own was a good strategy,” Alecto said. “Of all the arrogant, prideful things. We had this, believe it or not. We didn’t need your help.” She took a step closer to Thea. “And I specifically warned you that any interference from you would result in the loss of your wings.”
Holgersen stepped up beside Thea, while Gordon stepped up beside Alecto, like rival gangs getting ready for a rumble.
But Thea held up a hand and shook her head. “Wait,” she said sharply and then, even though nobody was talking, “Shh!”
She’d seen something in Alecto’s eyes. Something that didn’t look like her boss. It looked more like…
“Megaira,” Thea said.
“What about her?” Alecto asked. The anger was gone from her voice now, as she studied Thea’s face.
Thea had that feeling in her stomach, like she was coming too fast down a hill.
The same feeling she got when she had a vision.
She quickly ran a claw across her palm, deep enough to draw blood, then held out her hand to Alecto.
Alecto, who had probably seen Nana in this same state a hundred times, didn’t hesitate to take it.
The vision hit Thea fast and hard, and was gone just as quickly. It was less than a full second before she snatched her hand away again.
“We can argue later,” she said. “Your sister is coming to kill you.”
It was two, maybe three seconds after Thea finished speaking, when Megaira came flying into the room, claws out, shouting, a couple of her own security guards at her heels.
Two seconds was enough for Alecto to be prepared.
Thea had seen furies fight before, and she’d gotten a small taste of what Alecto and Megaira could do with their telekinetic powers. But nothing had really prepared her for what a brawl between them would be like. Almost instantly, the conference room was in chaos. Chairs, pads of paper and boxes of pens, power strips, anything that wasn’t fastened to the floor or walls (and a few things that were) flew around and collided. All the while, the sisters slashed at one another with claws and talons.
The Fury Unlimited guards, who appeared to have been chasing Megaira rather than helping her, ducked into the hallway to avoid being hit. Langdon was standing near the door, and did the same. Thea, Holgersen, and Gordon took cover under the table.
“Do we just let them kill each other?” Holgersen asked Thea.
“Of course we don’t!” Gordon said. “We defend the leader of our colony.”
“Hey, I don’t have a colony,” Holgersen pointed out. “That’s all you, buddy.”
With a grumble, Gordon began to move out from under the table.
“What’s he going to do?” Holgersen asked. “Doesn’t seem to be much point in pulling them apart when they can just keep throwing everything around. Why doesn’t Megaira’s security shoot her?”
One of the guards was staring from the doorway with his mouth open. His hand was on the gun at his belt, but he made no move to draw it.
“Because they’re afraid to,” Thea said. “But I’m not.”
Gordon made a grab for Megaira, but before he could reach her a chair slammed into his head and knocked him out cold.
The way Thea saw it, she had two options. One, she could fly over to the guard, hoping she didn’t get knocked out herself on the way, then ask him nicely for his gun, hoping he would just hand it over.
Or two, she could take it. After all, Alecto and Megaira weren’t the only ones who could do a little telekinesis.
Her powers were unpredictable at best, but they’d only grown since she’d gone through the transformation. And they seemed to work best in high adrenaline situations. She thought of Mr. Fanatic’s truck, flipped over on the side of the road.
Come on, Thea. What’s a little piece of metal compared to a whole truck?
She looked again at the guard’s belt, focused, and flicked her wrist.
The gun sailed into her hand.
As soon as she caught it, Thea flipped it around and shot Megaira.
She’d been aiming for the knee—a wound that would knock Megaira down and startle her out of focus—but although Thea had grown up
around guns, she’d never been a very good shot. She got Megaira in the hip.
Close enough.
The second Megaira hit the ground, writhing and screaming, a dozen pieces of flying furniture and debris dropped abruptly to the floor. Alecto, breathing heavily, took a step back. She’d been clawed in several places, and was bleeding quite a bit, as was her sister.
The guard whose gun Thea had taken rushed to his boss—former boss?—and injected her in the neck with something. Megaira calmed almost immediately.
Thea hoped it was the same thing they’d drugged her with. It caused a bitch of a headache.
Ten minutes later, the rest of them were back in the board room. Langdon stood over Alecto, bandaging a few of her wounds with a first aid kit they’d given him.
Frederick was sitting in Megaira’s seat.
“Megaira has been taken to the infirmary,” he told them. “We’ll deal with her from here. We may need to keep her sedated until her wrath passes, but I’m telling you now, we won’t take her wings.”
“What will you do?” Alecto asked.
“Keep her out of power,” Frederick said. “And keep her here at Fury Unlimited, in a low-responsibility, low-access position. It will be punishment enough for her to watch the colony she built flourishing, under the control of others who are making advances and making names for themselves, while she’s a nobody doing menial work.”
“It won’t even be close!” Holgersen said. “Are you seriously in the justice business? She killed several people. Orphaned a little boy.”
“She’s done a lot of things she should have to answer for,” Thea agreed.
But Alecto held up a hand. “I know my sister. Frederick is right. They’re essentially putting her in her version of hell. It’ll do.” She looked down the table at her rival colony’s board. “I assume our other terms are acceptable, with regards to the superhex?”
“I’m the head of RDM,” Frederick said. “And I’ll be candid with you: I’ve never been a fan of this product line. It’s volatile, unpredictable. The buyers aren’t trustworthy. It involves too much risk all around. Not many of us here, apart from Megaira, will have a hard time giving it up.
Lasting Fury (Hexing House Book 2) Page 19
